John Hunter-Duvar
John Hunter-Duvar (August 29, 1821 - January 25, 1899) was a Scottish-born Canadian poet, journalist, farmer, militia officer, and miscellaneous writer.S.C. Campbell, Hunter-Duvar John,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography 12, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. Web, Feb. 13, 2017. Life Hunter-Duvar was born John Hunter in Newburgh, Scotland, to Agnes (Strickland) and John MacKenzie Hunter, an excise officer. He married Anne Carter in Royal Leamington Spa, England, on August 22, 1848. They had 3 sons and a daughter. His career in journalism took him to Halifax and Charlottetown in 1849. He is credited with founding Halifax’s first building society. He was a correspondent for the New York Associated Press during the Crimean War. In 1857 the Hunter family left England. By 1860 Hunter had acquired 700 acres in western Prince Edward Island where he built an estate, “Hernewood”, where he operated a farm and a saw mill. He also became active in the local Militia. He had his name changed legally to Hunter-Duvar in 1861. Hunter legally changed his name to Hunter-Duvar on April 9, 1861, to avoid confusion with another PEI resident whose mail was often mixed with his own. From 1863 to 1868 the family lived in Halifax where Hunter-Duvar served in the Halifax Artillery, eventually rising to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. In 1868 Hunter returned to Hernewood, and became a Justice of the Peace. He esited the Summerside Progess from 1875 to 1879. His poems began appearing in Maritime newspapers in the 1870s. He produced about 120 works, including poetry, short stories, reviews, essays, literary criticism, history and novels; of which about 75 were published.Biographical History, John Hunter-Duvar fonds, Memory PEI, Public Archives & Records Office, Prince Edward Island. Web, Feb. 13, 2017. In 1879 he become Dominion Inspector of Fisheries for PEI, an position he held until 1889. He died at Hernewood in 1899. Writing Dictionary of Canadian Biography: "The reputation Hunter-Duvar enjoys as a writer rests primarily on three of his larger works: The Enamorado (Summerside, 1879), De Roberval, a drama (Saint John, 1888), which includes a poem called 'The Emigration of the Fairies,' and Annals of the Court of Oberon (London, 1895).... "Called a closet drama because it was intended to be read rather than performed, The Enamorado has for its plot a love affair set in medieval Castile. It is arranged in a conventional pattern and employs pseudo-Shakespearian poetry. The play would have been more successful had the author’s plot, characterization, and turn of phrase been more strictly original and modelled less on the work of Elizabethan playwrights. "De Roberval, a historical drama based on the life of Jean-François de La Rocque de Roberval, although containing passages of startling poetic merit and some crisp but graceful lyrics, suffers from a self-conscious need to be in vogue, scrupulous indebtedness to European models, and a lack of judicious restraint in execution. The play is often compared to Charles Mair’s Tecumseh.... "The Emigration of the Fairies is Hunter-Duvar’s most artistically consistent publication.... Achieving a balance in tone, intent, and execution, it is perhaps the one work that reveals a truer assimilation of its influences, Lord Byron and Samuel Taylor Coleridge among them, and approaches freshness. Annals of the Court of Oberon ... is a poetic prose work intended to charm the genteel reader with the whimsy and fancy of its writer in his descriptions of fairy activities, while revealing his satirical views on various social and political institutions." "Hunter-Duvar’s niche in Canadian literature is still a small one, limited to the rushed-over early pages of anthologies, honourable mentions in introductory courses, and users of archives.... He was a scholarly colonial gentleman and government official who wrote a considerable amount of skilful and competent material, much more than is commonly realized, which, although mostly imitative, contains some fine, original flourishes." Publications Play *''The Enamorado. Summerside, PEI: Graves, 1879. Short fiction *''Annals of the Court of Oberon: Extracted from the records. London: Digby, Long, 1895. Non-fiction *''The Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages: A popular treatise on early archaeology''. London: S. Sonnenschein / New York: Macmillan, 1892. Collected editions *''De Roberval: A drama; also, The Emigration of the Fairies; and, The triumph of constancy: A romaunt. Saint John, NB: J. & A. McMillan, 1888. Journal *''Hernewood: The personal diary of Col. John Hunter Duvar, June 6 to September 17 1857. PEI: G. Dewar, 1979. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:John Hunter-Duvar, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Feb. 13, 2017. See also *List of Canadian poets References Fonds *John Hunter-Duvar at Archives PEI Notes External links ;Poems *"August" *"Emigration of the Fairies" at Poetry Atlas *Hunter-Duvar in A Victorian Anthology, 1837-1895: [http://www.bartleby.com/246/1197.html From De Roberval], "Brawn of England's Lay" ;Books *Hunter-Duvar, John (1830-1899) at Internet Archive *John Hunter-Duvar at Amazon.com ;About *John Hunter-Duvar in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography ;Etc. *John Hunter-Duvar fonds at the Public Archives & Records Office, Prince Edward Island Category:1821 births Category:1899 deaths Category:19th-century poets Category:Canadian poets Category:Poets Category:English-language poets